CMS

For CMS at Cannon Place, KKS created a client-focused space to differentiate the firm’s offer in a crowded legal market and contribute to their global expansion strategy.

CMS offers specialist law and tax advice with 3,000 legal professionals in 59 offices worldwide. The firm pioneered an internal structure based on industry sector lines and practice-based teams; Cannon Place will play an important role in its implementation.

Large floorplates will allow CMS to adopt open-plan working for more effective practice adjacencies and mobile working. The layout offered 14% more lawyers and a reduction of 30% space taken by the firm. Conversion of 800 lawyers currently in cellular offices to open plan has required careful change management.

KKS recognised the Cannon Place reception area also offered a real opportunity to deliver on CMS’s client focus. Our design put the CMS client experience at the heart of the space. By radically rethinking the arrival sequence from a meet-and-greet concierge approach to integrated technology, we developed a business lounge concept: a hub with business support where CMS employees and clients could gather.

A striking curvilinear Corian form, the antithesis of a traditional legal reception desk, snakes dramatically through the reception area to support client collaborative or concentrated work, with interactive multi-device technology as well as beverages and snacks. The result puts CMS at the cutting edge of the legal workplace and demonstrates the firm’s exceptional client focus.

British Council of Offices Awards 2016, Fit-out of Workplace (London & South East) – WINNER